Only one way to sort this out..

According to the Laws of the Game -

" Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with
excessive force and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty
of serious foul play!"

"A player who is guilty of serious foul play should be sent off"

Looks like a lot more force than Kompany did :S

How does this sort anything out? The biased anti-Liverpool brigade will say it was a red card. Whereas all the level-headed, non-biased forum members will conclude that it was merely a fabulous interception worthy of a prestigious award.

There is definitely one way to sort this out.

This thread is not it though.

He didn't lunge at the opponent though, he lunged at the ball.

I didnt see anything excessive about Johnsons or Kompanys the other day

Roloman4 wrote:He didn't lunge at the opponent though, he lunged at the ball.

He was lunging in while challenging for the ball.. if Lescott wasnt near him you could say that, but Lescott could have easily committed himself into the challenge.

If Lescott had arrived earlier by a couple of milliseconds, his leg would have been minced meat.

fluffy_kittens wrote:I didnt see anything excessive about Johnsons or Kompanys the other day

You're a spastic though, so thats not really a surprise to anyone.

no and no.

2 footed tackle.

1. Yes
2. Yes, if Liverpool continue to act in this way then the FA have to take action against them. Diving, racism, beating up women, and now trying to injure opponents on the pitch. If the FA could revoke their membership it would be a great day for football. I even saw the Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, a man who shouldn't even be allowed to speak to the media any more, defend that tackle after the game. Dalglish has gone too far.

Yeah, should have been a red card by the looks of it.

Yes, That is a blatant red card.

If Lescott got there a split second earlier.. it would have been the most dirty tackle this decade.

It's not about the result.. it's about intent.. no one, outside of Liverpool, tries to genuinely get the ball that way.

Scott wrote:How does this sort anything out? The biased anti-Liverpool brigade will say it was a red card. Whereas all the level-headed, non-biased forum members will conclude that it was merely a fabulous interception worthy of a prestigious award.

Really?

He won the ball, but he lunged into a challenge double footed, that is a no-go for me.

I've seen players like De Jong, Barton, Roy Keane, and many more make far worse tackles than either Kompany or Johnson. I would've given Kompany and Johnson yellows

Straight red card. It's not even up for debate.

Kompany's was also a straight red.

Scott wrote:How does this sort anything out? The biased anti-Liverpool brigade will say it was a red card. Whereas all the level-headed, non-biased forum members will conclude that it was merely a fabulous interception worthy of a prestigious award.

fluffy_kittens wrote:I've seen players like De Jong, Barton, Roy Keane, and many more make far worse tackles than either Kompany or Johnson. I would've given Kompany and Johnson yellows

You do realize that red cards aren't the highest punishment a player can receive, right? Just because career-threatening tackles are given red cards, doesn't mean anything less severe isn't worthy of a red card. I'm sure the players that performed those horrible tackles were given several game bans (or at the very least deserved it).

I think a more debatable question is, should Balotelli have been sent off for spitting towards the referee?

The Arsenal fans saying it should have been a red

Kompany's wasn't a red neither was Johnson's. Chris Foy got caught up in the big game scenario and made the wrong decision.

According to FA rules once a player has left the ground he is no longer in charge of his body, if he wins the ball and gets none of the ball, it is a foul and a warning, if he gets the ball and some of the man, it is a foul and a sending off, if he gets nothing but man, it is a sending off. The only way of escaping a sending off is by just winning the ball. Johnson clearly gets some of the man so it is a sending off.

Kompanys should have been lifted as well.

Kompany and Johnson both red cards.

kyro7 wrote:Kompany and Johnson both red cards.

No chance. Both tackles were made in effort to win the ball and had no adverse affect on the players on the receiving end.

Sometimes common sense needs to prevail. Lee mason used his head and seen that Johnson lunged at the ball and not the player and made the right call. Chris Foy bottled it and went straight for the easy route.

Nani had to jump out of the way of that assault, Johnson's seemed more forceful but less directed at the player.

Sending someone off is far from the "easy route" it's the hard route because you'll get scrutinized. Not sending anyone off is the "easy route."

Ché Guayaba wrote:Sending someone off is far from the "easy route" it's the hard route because you'll get scrutinized. Not sending anyone off is the "easy route."

Yeah but it's better to get scrutinized for making a call that in the book rather than out of it. If he didn't send Kompany off in that game and City won then he wouldn't be just questioned by the fans and media but the FA aswell.

kyro7 wrote:Nani had to jump out of the way of that assault, Johnson's seemed more forceful but less directed at the player.

Towards clearing the ball along the ground. There was no attempt from him to make a tackle.

If Kompany's was a sending off then this definitely was. As Bladegunner said, if Lescott would have got there a split second earlier he'd have no leg.

Scouser_Dave wrote:

Ché Guayaba wrote:Sending someone off is far from the "easy route" it's the hard route because you'll get scrutinized. Not sending anyone off is the "easy route."

Yeah but it's better to get scrutinized for making a call that in the book rather than out of it. If he didn't send Kompany off in that game and City won then he wouldn't be just questioned by the fans and media but the FA aswell.

Congratulations, you have just admitted that the red card was deserved. Why else would the FA question the referee had he not sent off Kompany?